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Sunday, September 29, 2013

Ipsy - September 2013

CLASSIC BEAUTY

Gotta love the classics....from classic novels, to classic movies, to classic fashion and of course...classic beauty! The thing that every woman should have on hand, are the classic staples of a good makeup/beauty collection that's elegant, feminine and chic. If you missed my REVEAL post for this month, here is the link for your perusal! -

I received: a lip balm, a mascara, an eyeshadow, a polish and an eyeliner

Everyone received the same mascara, as well as a single eyeshadow from NYX but the other items varied. I ADORE this month's bag! I think it's absolutely stunning! There was some talk about the lace pattern being disrupted but until I actually had it in my hand did I notice that it's not actually disrupted or not printed correctly...there are butterflies on it! Do you see the butterfly with the lace wings in the center aimed towards the mascara I set up there? Sneaky little flutterby! Time to look at my classic beauty must-haves!...

CAILYN COSMETICS

TINTED LIP BALM

in Big Apple

"Indulge in colors that last and formulas that enrich! Formulated using "3D smart film former", this ultra matte, super moisturizing lip balm offers you rich colors with amazing staying power." - from cailyncosmetics.com

So this is my second Cailyn Cosmetics product, and I must say, it did not disappoint! I received a gel eyeliner from them a few months back in a previous Ipsy Glam Bag and I adored it, and it's quite possible that I love this product even more! The packaging is, in fact, exactly the same as the eyeliner...a jar with a tall lid that holds the applicator brush. I love the cute design, but I will say that it's a bit of a pain to store if you're not just placing it on a shelf. For the time being, I keep all my main pieces of makeup in a fold out makeup case and I can lay this product inside but it does awkwardly take up some space, whereas, if I just had a shelf to put it on, it'd be much happier, less bulked up and not be in the way.

As for the product itself, my oh my, LOOK at that pigmentation! That's read, you read it correctly, that is ONE single swipe on the bottom! Tinted lip balm? More like KA-POW! Color in your FACE! It is PIGMENTED! You can also see how fabulously it blends into a softer pink-toned red if you'd prefer to soften the look. It's very soft and smooth when applied, but dries to a completely matte finish, which I LOVE. It stayed ka-put on my lips for hours after application and although it did dry my lips out ever so slightly, I didn't mind just from the amount of pigmentation and staying-power. If your lips crackle a lot when a product dries them out, I'd highly recommend putting on a lip balm about 5 minutes before you apply this, then lightly dabbing some lip balm or lip gloss every couple of hours after.

ELIZABETH MOTT

IT'S SO BIG VOLUMIZING MASCARA

"A unique formula that lengthens and curls your lashes, without smudging! Maintains mega volume for the whole day, and is easily removed. The hourglass brush shape, with it's long and short bristle pattern, delivers just the right amount of mascara to each lash (like magic!), watch your lashes grow BIGGER with each layer." - from elizabethmott.com

I am SO picky about mascaras....well I take that back....my LASHES are so picky about mascara! ::giggles:: They are short, slant downwards and don't like to hold a curl. However, this might be one the best mascaras I've received in a beauty sub! I LOVE the wand, it's very similar to my favorite NYX Doll Eye Long Lash mascara that I use every day. I much prefer short-bristled, hourglass shaped brush heads because I feel I can get closer to the roots of my lashes without getting product on my eyelids. The oooonly thing I think they could have done to absolutely complete this wand and make it's wow-factor skyrocket is to have added some bristles to the tip of the brush just like Benefit's They're Real. THAT would have made it a all-encompassing phenomenal mascara! Regardless, I still love it! It leaned on the lengthening side a teensy bit more than the volumizing side, but it still plumped the lashes a bit and was very easy to layer with multiple coats. I also had no trouble with smudging throughout the day while wearing it (I used Urban Decay's De-Slick Setting Spray) and had no trouble taking it off at night with makeup remover wipes. It also played well with other mascaras when I tried pairing it up with some other brands for more volume or more length. All in all, I'll be reaching for this mascara often!

I neglected to take a picture of just this mascara by itself, but I am wearing it in the Finale pics, so keep on reading!

This girl LOOOOVES her eyeshadow! and as you can tell from my mascara post, I'm a NYX lover as well, so this item in my Glam Bag was definitely exciting! It's a lovely dark charcoal with silver shimmer throughout.

For the price of this product, I am very pleased with the pigmentation and versatility! The two dry swipes (on the bottom) was very smooth to work with and soft to touch when applying with fingers. Over NYX's Jumbo Pencil in Milk it darkened beautifully, made the silver shimmer pop out better and even dry blended it didn't get too patchy but created a soft shadowy coverage. The staying power was great with a primer (both Urban Decay's Original Primer Potion and/or NYX's Jumbo Pencil), and fairly decent without one but I'd always recommend using one. With a setting spray after application it's even better! What's great about this color is that it can be used for a good smokey eyeliner, an allover smoked out eye, or even some crease shadowing or "V" shape in a cat-eye. Definitely a handy, classic and sexy color to have around!

Absolutely GORGEOUS dark oxblood red! It's smooth, luxurious and a rich, vivacious shade. The only other oxblood polish I have is Julep's Coco, but this color is just a tad darker and deeper in shade and not quite as thick.

Just a note on my swatching - since I am in the middle of the 30 Manis Marathon, I've been having to redo my nails fairly often, which I can handle every couple of days or so, but when you add in polishes from subs here and there, it's a bit trickier for me to constantly do swatches on myself...HENCE, my swatch sticks! I'll be trying to actually USE the new colors within my 30 Manis Marathon (as I did with Ruffian's Delirium in my violet mani) but unfortunately for this oxblood, I don't really have a good way to use it in my current mani lineup. Please let me know if ya'll really dislike the swatch sticks or really need to see them on nails and I'll try to accommodate!

The swatch here has two coats of La Moss, with no top coat, so you can see it dries just a TEENSY bit glossy, but not too much. It's still not quite completely opaque but I think two coats should be adequate when applied evenly. I didn't have too much trouble with streaking but it definitely needs two coats to even out better. I would prefer it to be just a TEENSY bit thicker, but it's still gorgeous!

Yay Starlooks! I'm a Starlooks subscriber as well, and love it, so I always get excited to see it in an Ipsy Glam Bag! This is my 2nd Starlooks from Ipsy item I've received, the first being a lip liner in Tickle Me Pink in my June 2013 Ipsy bag. I already own a few Ipsy eyeliners, but not Obsidian, so I was excited!

One of their Kohl Eye Pencils I already own is Onyx, which is a dark black and is very similar to Obsidian, but it seems Obsidian is just a taaaad lighter in hue and more of a smokey black. As you can see by the swatches, it glides on fairly easily and makes a nice thin line when sharpened but does require a bit of finesse to curve. Still, it's fairly soft but it wasn't quite as soft as other eyeliners I've used and very lightly pulled on my eyes when I applied. The staying power was awesome though and with a setting spray it didn't budge an inch all day! I feel like I'd really prefer this as a smokey liner that I can smudge rather than a crisp, classic liner. On the waterline it lasted about 2 hours before needing major touchups. I also loved using this under some dark eyeshadow for a sultry nighttime smokey eye.

WORTH AND PURCHASE:

Cailyn Cosmetics Tinted Lip Balm in Big Apple:

Full-size (0.16 oz) - $19

I received a 0.14 oz sample - $16.63

Elizabeth Mott It's So Big Volumizing Mascara:

Full-size (10 ml) - $19.99

I received a 4 ml sample - $8

NYX Single Eyeshadow in Cryptonite:

Full-size (0.085 oz) - $4.50

I received a full-size!

Butter London Nail Polish in La Moss:

Full-size (0.4 fl oz) - $15

I received 0.2 fl oz sample - $7.50

Starlooks Kohl Eye Pencil in Obsidian:

Full-size (2.4 g) - $12

I received a full-size!

Total Paid for Bag: $10

Total Worth of Bag: $48.63

Wow! Almost five times worth what I paid! SO very happy with this month's Glam Bag product price add-up! Especially since two of the products are worth more by themselves than what I paid, well done Ipsy!

FINALE

Classic beauty? What's more classic that channeling a bit of a modern Marilyn Monroe? Unfortunately, I can't do her sexy, sleepy bedroom eyes, but I certainly can make her characteristic beauty mark on her face!

TOLD you this lip balm was PIGMENTED! It is such a gorgeous shade!

Yes, yes I did use the eyeliner for the beauty mark! I just went for a simple, classic cat-eye, but didn't quite go all the way with Marilyn's under eye eyeliner shadow tomake it look like her false lashes were creating a shadow because...well because I'm not wearing false lashes! I wanted to show ya'll the mascara...

As you can see, the mascara really does add some nice lift and length in the lashes as well as some thickening towards the roots and slightly out. Here I'm wearing about 2 coats of the mascara, with a light coat at the tips, along with two coats on the bottom lashes. I LOVE the Cryptonite eyeshadow, isn't it GORGEOUS. I used Urban Decay's Original Primer Potion all over the eyelid, then blended on NYX's Jumbo Pencil in Milk. I then lightly brushed on some creamy-white matte eyeshadow all over the lid up to the eyebrow and then blended in the Cryptonite in a 'V' shape on the outer corner of my eye and into the crease to pull my eye shape outwards. I then used Starlook's Obsidian Kohl Eye Pencil for my winged cat-eye but didn't apply it to my waterline as I wanted my eyes to look a little more melancholy and heavy (Marilyn-esque). Then I applied light bronzer to sculpt, soft rosy red blush to balance the lips, mascara, beauty mark and voila!

I really enjoyed this month's Glam Bag! I think I'll definitely be using all the products up and I'm super pleased with it's worth. Thanks for another great month, Ipsy!